Hoarding - dozens of animals seized
Pearl, MS (US)Incident Date: Thursday, Apr 2, 2009
County: Rankin
Charges: Misdemeanor
Disposition: Convicted
Case Images: 3 files available
Defendants/Suspects:
» Gerald Keyes
» Paula Jean Keyes
Case Updates: 3 update(s) available
A Pearl man is in custody charged with 28 counts of animal cruelty after police removed dozens of dogs and cats in poor health and unsanitary conditions from a home at 2229 Upper Drive in Pearl.
Pearl police arrested Gerald Keyes around 10 p.m. Thursday after responding to a domestic disturbance call placed from inside the house.
A 3-year-old boy also was taken from the house and hospitalized for observation.
Investigators are still on the scene. In addition to the animals still alive, about eight frozen bundles believed to be animal remains were removed from a refrigerator inside the house.
Police believe more animals may be buried in the back yard. They say Keyes apparently has been practicing veterinary medicine without a license.
In addition to the animal cruelty charges, Keyes also has been charged with disorderly conduct.
When police arrived at the house Thursday night, Keyes came to the door and the patrol officer detected a strong odor and called for detectives to come to the house, said Capt. Ronnie Conerly.
Pearl animal control worked throughout the night.
Neighbors say the house has been a problem for years, and the stench of feces from the animals could be smelled throughout the neighborhood.
Pearl animal control officer Heather Rogers said her unit "had no idea" of the problems at the house. "I've seen bad, but this is really bad," she said.
Conerly said police have been out to this address numerous times in the past on other calls. "We couldn't imagine what was going on inside," he said.
Pearl Mayor Jimmy Foster said all officers that responded to the initial call have been checked for illness or contamination. None has been found, he said.
Hazardous materials crews are at the scene and entered the house earlier wearing protective suits.
Case UpdatesA Pearl couple charged in an animal cruelty case is now fighting to win custody of their son.
Paula and Bennie Keyes are accused of keeping dead pets in the freezer, abusing almost 30 animals and neglecting their 4-year-old son.
Sunday, they spoke exclusively to 16 WAPT.
"They were my dogs that died of old age," Bennie Keyes said. "I had them froze to keep them from deteriorating until I could get them buried."
The Keyes said the 4-year-old has been in State custody since the arrests and they haven't been able to see or speak to him.
Last week, they pled no contest to animal cruelty and child neglect charges.
Bennie and Paula Jean Keyes were each charged with 31 misdemeanor counts of animal neglect. In April, Pearl police and animal control officers removed 31 animals from the Keyes' home in the 2200 block of Upper Drive. Dog carcasses were also found in a freezer at the home, police said.
Slideshow: Source: wapt.com - Oct 8, 2009
Update posted on Nov 6, 2010 - 9:40PM |
On Wednesday, Paula Keyes videotaped the crews pulling all of her family's belongings out of her house, against her will.
"I'm gonna turn it over to some attorneys because I intend to sue the biohazard company and the City of Pearl," she says.
The city's mayor and board of aldermen have voted to demolish the house, deemed unfit for human habitation. Gerald and Paula Keyes were arrested back in April when authorities discovered unsanitary conditions inside. At least 28 animals lived in the home with the couple and their son, Dakota, who just turned four. Gerald and Paula both spent a few months in jail, and pleaded no contest to the charges. Dakota remains in the custody of D.H.S.
"He's in a foster home right now. We're gonna go to court, fight to get him back," Paula says. "They have refused to let us back in the home to get what's left in there."
Paula says she and Gerald were given 30 days to clean their property, but they were in jail for most of that time. She says they really only had 27 hours to work on it, which she says was not enough time to remove the 60 percent of their belongings that remained inside before Wednesday's clean-up.
Paula has submitted several appeals regarding the house demolition. All of the appeals are handwritten, and it doesn't seem they're making much of a difference.
"They need to have another board meeting," she says.
Back in April, WLBT News showed several photographs snapped by investigators depicting the inside of the home. The pictures revealed wrapped packages containing dead animals inside a freezer, filthy floors and animal cages, and other unsanitarty conditions. But Gerald Keyes says the pictures are bogus because the city pulled things out of boxes and scattered them around to make it appear horrible.
The corpses of four dogs were found inside a freezer in the residence.
"It was a special fridge made just to keep my dog vaccine and medicine," Gerald says. "At that time, I had a couple dogs I had to bury, I put (them) in the refrigerator."
The Keyes say they have video of how the inside of the house really looks. But they will wait until a later date to show it, and they plan to maintain their fight to keep their home. | Source: WLOX - Oct 14, 2009
Update posted on Oct 15, 2009 - 11:32AM |
WLBT News was prevented from seeing the animals that had been removed from a Pearl home Friday. They're in quarantine and recovering at the Mississippi Animal Rescue League in Jackson. 28 dogs and cats were found at the house on Upper Drive, emaciated and covered in feces. 64-year-old Bennie Gerald Keys lives there with his wife and their three-year-old son. Keys is now in jail on 28 counts of animal cruelty.
Four of the youngest animals have had to be euthanized. The rest are in bad shape. "A lot of upper respiratory in some of the cats. The dogs, coated in fleas, just coated, just layers," says MARL Director Debra Boswell. "They've got big sores from the scratching and biting, overgrown nails. They can't stand appropriately."
In such conditions, young children are at high risk for health problems as well. "Things like giardia, an intestinal problem that causes chronic diarrhea, infections on open wounds, lung issues, sarcoptic mange, we call it scabies in people," Boswell says.
The child is now in the custody of DHS.
Boswell says animal hoarding is nothing new. There are hundreds of similar cases, and some may never be discovered. It's often a symptom of obsessive-compulsive disorder, she says. "The M-O is usually the same, a large amount of animals in the home, more than anyone could take care of, filthy conditions, sick animals. A lot think they're saving the animals, caring for them. They're really inflicting a lot of animal suffering."
Neighbors around the home told us Friday they'd noticed strong odors from the home, but didn't call authorities. Police discovered the problems Thursday as they responded to a domestic violence call from the home.
Boswell says authorities need to be notified of such behavior, and witnesses such as family members are important. "Take photographs, bring photographs, start the process, get some help for these individuals and those animals," she says.
The animals that can recover will be put up for adoption. | Source: WLBT - April 4, 2009
Update posted on Apr 5, 2009 - 8:50AM |
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